The knock-out stages of the 3×3 U18 Asia Championship was held today (28th May 2017) in Malaysia. Sri Lankan Women`s Team took on Indonesia while Sri Lanka Men`s team took on China. It was a bad day in office for both sides as they had to walk out of the tournament in despair after a brilliant group stage performance.

A Message from the U18 3×3 Team to the Fans

Sri Lanka beat Japan for the first time in the history in any format of the game yesterday (26th May – 2017). ThePapare.com got hold of the…

Game 01: Sri Lanka v Indonesia (Women`s Quarter-Final)

Sri Lanka won one out of the two games in their group-stage and went on to be placed second in their pool with 25 points. Sri Lanka beat Kazakhstan 15-13 in the first game and lost to Malaysia in the second game 10-18.

Sri Lanka v Indonesia (Women`s Quarter-Final)

Indonesian ladies dominated the game from the first check and led the game 15-04 at one time with five and half minutes remaining on the clock. Sri Lanka not getting back to the form they possessed during the group-stage matches were only able to add 03 more points from there until the game ended.

Indonesia kept the consistency and scored 21 points to end the game. The Lankan lades were only able to pile up 07 points in reply.

Full Time: Sri Lanka – 07 Indonesia – 21


Game 02: Sri Lanka v China (Men`s Quarter-Final)

Sri Lanka won both the games in the group-stage and remained unbeaten topping the respective pool with 36 points. Sri Lanka beat Kyrgyzstan 20-17 and went on to beat the Asian heavyweights Japan 16-15.

Sri Lanka squared the game 3 all inside the first three minutes but lost momentum from that point onwards as China went on to add 07 points at a stretch leaving the scoreboard 10-03. Chinese were on top of the rebounding and the defending factor. There were a little too many shot clock violations for Sri Lanka which you cannot afford in 3×3 format with regards to the short time you have in hand.

Sri Lanka v China (Men`s Quarter-Final)However, Sri Lanka finding their form again, bounced back strongly scoring baskets at quick succession and cutting down the deficit. It seemed as if the Chinese have done their home-work against Shivanga De Silva as he did not have a lot of space around him to penetrate it, which was a huge blow for Sri Lanka.

It wasn’t an easy win for China, Sri Lanka did fight hard. It was the early lead of 07 consecutive points China scored which helped to cross the winning line. If Sri Lanka had been able to stop the leakage of points once they started scoring consecutively, it would have been a tighter game and Sri Lanka would have definitely had a chance to advance on. China won the game as they scored 21 points and Sri Lanka only managed 12 points.

Full Time: Sri Lanka – 12 China – 20

Even though Sri Lanka had to walk out of the tournament, it was clearly an improved performance. Finishing in the bottom in the previous edition and coming this year they topped the group stage, beat Japan and qualified to the quarter-final. It`s a process; tick one by one then without doubt Sri Lanka will be a must watch side for 3×3 format in Asia.